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Not all those who wander are lost - but I'll be disappointed if I don't get lost frequently!

Monday, 14 January 2013

Skyfall

Great movie. Awesome song. I hear Adele singing it every time I read that word, checking back over this post. Skyfall (This is the end. Hold your breath and count to ten.... ) But what does James Bond have to do with me and my travels? Absolutely nothing, but I think that it's a rather catchy way of describing what exactly it is I'm off to do for the next few days: Go and watch the sky fall.

As I write this I am sitting in Gatwick airport, waiting to board my flight to Reykjavik, Iceland. Where I will spend my nights watching the sky fall in a storm of colour like in the picture below. At least, I hope there will be a colour storm and not a rain, snow or hail storm. That would block the light show. Yes, I'm on my way to see the Northern Lights, aka Aurora Borealis.

Stafnes Lighthouse & The Aurora

Needless to say, I'm pretty excited. It's on my Bucket List of Way More Than 100 Things to Do Before I Even Think About Dying. Right between #119 (Take the TransSiberian Railway) and #121 (Road Trip Across a Foreign Country With My Family). Wahoo! But I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much. While the aurora forecast has the lights sitting right over Iceland for the next few days, they are only predicting it to be a 'quiet' period of activity, or 2 on a sliding scale of up to 10. I should see something in the sky, but it's quite unlikely that I'll see the jaw-dropping reds and blues you see on postcards. One can always hope....

Iceland isn't all about the Northern Lights. I thought Iceland was some tiny little island, way up north in the arctic circle. It turns out it's not. I mean, it is in the arctic circle, it's just not that small. Not by European standards at least. It's about one hundred thousand square kilometres which is a good ten thousand up on the Australian island state of Tasmania. If you've seen the recent movie Prometheus, you'll remember that huge waterfall in the opening scenes. Well, that was filmed in Iceland. While I'm there, I'll also be checking out some of the incredible scenery, waterfalls and geysers (including the Geyser, from which the term originates). Yesterday, I even went and purchased some bathers for all the swimming I plan to do.

Who knew Iceland was that big?

Yes, you read that correctly. The forecast for Iceland over the next few days is a couple of degrees either side of freezing. And yes, I'm going swimming. At some thermal pools, called the Blue Lagoon. Should be quite an experience!

My flight is now boarding, so I'm literally heading off to begin this adventure. Who know, maybe I'll even fly through the aurora tonight?!